Community Corner
Daily Dose: El Cajon House Fires
House fires popping up in El Cajon recently, health care workers on strike, and the day's events and stories.
Events
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Santee Community Chorus Practice
Opening Night: "Sculpture by Lea Anderson" Exhibit at Grossmont College
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El Cajon House Fires
• Two people were hospitalized Tuesday with injuries they suffered in a house fire in El Cajon, authorities said.
The fire in the 1400 block of East Lexington Avenue was reported at 11:49 p.m. Monday, according to a Heartland fire dispatcher. Crews had it contained at 12:17 a.m., she said.
Paramedics took two people to the hospital. The extent of their injuries was unclear.
Three adults and two children were displaced, the dispatcher said.
The cause of the fire was under investigation. Fox 5 reported arson was suspected.
• An early morning fire gutted a century-old East County home Monday, displacing a family of three and leaving a firefighter with a minor injury.
The blaze in the 600 block of Jefferson Avenue in El Cajon erupted for unknown reasons about 2:45 a.m., city spokeswoman Monica Zech said.
The residents, two adults and a child, were able to escape safely along with their two dogs, but emergency crews immediately encountered hazardous conditions inside the house.
"As firefighters were making entry into the living room, the contents ignited and flashed, sending a pressurized flame front toward (them)," Zech said.
One of the personnel suffered a small burn to the back of one of his hands. Medics treated him at the scene.
Damage to the home, which was built in the early 1900s, was so extensive that the structure may be deemed a total loss, according to Zech. Property losses were estimated at $180,000.
"The couple renting this home did not have renter's insurance and lost everything," the spokeswoman said.
The American Red Cross was called in to help the family arrange for emergency lodging.
The fire appeared to have been of accidental origin, but the cause remained under investigation.
-City News Service
Health Care Strike
Unionized health-care workers are staging a 24-hour strike in San Diego Tuesday as part of a work stoppage at 160 Kaiser Permanente facilities statewide.
Walkouts are planned for 80 Kaiser Permanente facilities in Southern California, including the medical center at 4647 Zion Ave. in San Diego's Allied Gardens neighborhood, said Leighton Woodhouse, a spokesman for the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which is organizing the strike.
Kaiser officials issued a statement saying it was implementing "comprehensive contingency plans" to ensure continued care and patient safety and that all facilities would remain open during any work stoppage.
The union said the walkouts are in response to Kaiser's proposal to cut health-care and retirement benefits for thousands of NUHW members that the nonprofit HMO employs statewide, including about 2,500 in Southern California.
The NUHW is also unhappy with what union officials call chronic staffing deficiencies at Kaiser facilities and excessive compensation packages given top executives at a time when Kaiser has imposed rate increases on hundreds of thousands of California policyholders.
"The strike is going to be disruptive," Woodhouse said.
-City News Service
Yesterday's stories of note
Propeller Accident at Gillespie Field Kills Lakeside Pilot
Chargers Players Bring Fitness Goals to Rio Seco and Santee School District
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